Dunne Speaks on joining up the Dotcom dots

Joining the dots together to reveal a mystery
shape was a popular childhood game. The continuing Dotcom
evidence saga has shown elements of this game again this
week.

The facts in this case are few, but relatively
clear. Dotcom was granted residency in New Zealand in 2010
against the initial advice of the SIS which subsequently
changed its mind. At the time he was being pursued by the US
authorities on a variety of internet related charges and
agencies like the FBI were seeking his deportation to face
trial in the United States. In early 2012, there was a
botched raid on his home involving the Police and the SIS,
as a result of which Dotcom and some associates were
temporarily imprisoned. The political fallout has continued
ever since and the case to extradite Dotcom to the United
States has still to be resolved by the New Zealand
Courts.

Beyond these facts, the world of supposition
and dot-joining starts to apply. For example, given the
major interest of the US film studios in extraditing Dotcom
and presumably silencing him, was the visit of Warner
Brothers executives to New Zealand about the time his
residency was being considered purely coincidental and
related solely to the fate of the Hobbit movies? Or was it a
smokescreen for the opportunity to apply pressure over the
Dotcom case? Was the deal around the Hobbit movies struck on
the basis that the New Zealand Courts would fall into line
over the extradition case? (If so, it demonstrated an
incredible naivety about the independence of our judiciary.)
And why was Dotcom so keen to become a New Zealand resident,
if, as he now says, it was just a ruse to make his eventual
extradition that much easier to achieve?

A few
things have become a little clearer as the saga has
unfolded. First, the intelligence agencies do not believe
Dotcom should be here, whatever the circumstances, although
they do not quantify whether and how his presence here might
be a risk to our national security. Second, the handling of
the Dotcom case has been inept at virtually all levels, with
the exception of the Courts who have demonstrated admirable
independence. Third, politicians generally have been
constantly at sixes and sevens on the issue, and it is
genuinely difficult to know what there is to know, and who
knew what of that and when, and does it really matter
anyway.

So what does it all mean? Presumably, if the
New Zealand Government had substantial, subsequently
provided, information that Dotcom was not a fit and proper
person to be a resident, it would have cancelled his
residence status and deported him. It has not done that, so
it can be reasonably assumed no such information exists.
Which brings us back to the Americans.

If the
scenario that the United States wanted New Zealand to grant
Dotcom residence because it would make his deportation
easier is true, then it shows either a woeful
misunderstanding of how our judicial processes work, or an
incredibly overbearing attitude that, the niceties of the
law notwithstanding, New Zealand would “find a way” to
deport him. It also begs the question of why an astute man
like Dotcom would put his head in that noose in the first
place.

Sadly, a far more likely explanation is that
this is another case of New Zealand suffering from “small
country syndrome” – spooked by a controversial
international mogul seeking residence here; panicked by the
intervention of the FBI and desperate to show we could foot
it with the “big boys”, leading to general cock-up and
confusion, with much egg on face all round.

Unless I
am missing something and there are yet more unjoined dots to
be found and connected.

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